Stochastic variational inequalities with jumps

This work is devoted to the study of a stochastic variational inequality with a Wiener–Poisson driving term. Existence and uniqueness are proven for Lipschitz coefficients and under general conditions for the unbounded term. One of the main tools used in order to obtain the existence result is a penalization method involving Moreau–Yosida regularization.     

Weighted branching and a pathwise renewal equation

This paper is devoted to the study of a pathwise renewal equation for stochastic processes which are functions of a weighted tree defined in a general weighted branching model. Motivated by applications in the analysis of certain stochastic fixed-point equations and in the theory of general (Crump–Mode–Jagers) branching processes, we analyze the solutions to the equation under several conditions, the main result being a characterization of the set of solutions satisfying appropriate integrability conditions.     

Solvability of forward–backward stochastic partial differential equations

In this paper we study the solvability of a class of fully-coupled forward–backward stochastic partial differential equations (FBSPDEs). These FBSPDEs cannot be put into the framework of stochastic evolution equations in general, and the usual decoupling methods for the Markovian forward–backward SDEs are difficult to apply. We prove the well-posedness of the FBSPDEs, under various conditions on the coefficients, by using either the method of contraction mapping or the method of continuation. These conditions, especially in the higher dimensional case, are novel in the literature.     

The set-indexed Lévy process: Stationarity,Markov and sample paths properties

We present a satisfactory definition of the important class of Lévy processes indexed by a general collection of sets. We use a new definition for increment stationarity of set-indexed processes to obtain different characterizations of this class. As an example, the set-indexed compound Poisson process is introduced. The set-indexed Lévy process is characterized by infinitely divisible laws and a Lévy–Khintchine representation. Moreover, the following concepts are discussed: projections on flows, Markov properties, and pointwise continuity. Finally the study of sample paths leads to a Lévy–Itô decomposition. As a corollary, the semi-martingale property is proved.     

Probability and moment inequalities for sums of weakly dependent random variables,with applications

Doukhan and Louhichi [P. Doukhan, S. Louhichi, A new weak dependence condition and application to moment inequalities, Stochastic Process. Appl. 84 (1999) 313–342] introduced a new concept of weak dependence which is more general than mixing. Such conditions are particularly well suited for deriving estimates for the cumulants of sums of random variables. We employ such cumulant estimates to derive inequalities of Bernstein and Rosenthal type which both improve on previous results. Furthermore, we consider several classes of processes and show that they fulfill appropriate weak dependence conditions. We also sketch applications of our inequalities in probability and statistics.     

Existence and uniqueness of stationary Lévy-driven CARMA processes

Necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a strictly stationary solution of the equations defining a general Lévy-driven continuous-parameter ARMA process with index set R$\mathbb{R}$ are determined. Under these conditions the solution is shown to be unique and an explicit expression is given for the process as an integral with respect to the background driving Lévy process. The results generalize results obtained earlier for second-order processes and for processes defined by the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck equation.     

Continuous weak approximation for stochastic differential equations

A convergence theorem for the continuous weak approximation of the solution of stochastic differential equations (SDEs) by general one-step methods is proved, which is an extension of a theorem due to Milstein. As an application, uniform second order conditions for a class of continuous stochastic Runge–Kutta methods containing the continuous extension of the second order stochastic Runge–Kutta scheme due to Platen are derived. Further, some coefficients for optimal continuous schemes applicable to Itô SDEs with respect to a multi–dimensional Wiener process are presented.     

Criteria for ergodicity of Lévy type operators in dimension one

Some sufficient conditions for the recurrence, the positive recurrence and the exponential ergodicity of one-dimensional Lévy type operators are presented. The conditions are classified according to different conditions on the ranges and integrability of the Lévy measure, based on the drift inequalities for the extended generator, and on a comparison with diffusion operators. A number of examples are illustrated, including the fractional Laplacian operator and the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck type operator.     

The Itô–Nisio theorem,quadratic Wiener functionals,and 1-solitons

Among Professor Kiyosi Itô’s achievements, there is the Itô–Nisio theorem, a completely general theorem relative to the Fourier series decomposition of Brownian motion. In this paper, some of its applications will be reviewed, and new applications to 1-soliton solutions to the Korteweg–de Vries (KdV for short) equation and Eulerian polynomials will be given.     

Asymptotic properties of jump-diffusion processes with state-dependent switching

This work is concerned with a class of jump-diffusion processes with state-dependent switching. First, the existence and uniqueness of the solution of a system of stochastic integro-differential equations are obtained with the aid of successive construction methods. Next, the non-explosiveness is proved by truncation arguments. Then, the Feller continuity is established by means of introducing some auxiliary processes and by making use of the Radon–Nikodym derivatives. Furthermore, the strong Feller continuity is proved by virtue of the relation between the transition probabilities of jump-diffusion processes and the corresponding diffusion processes. Finally, on the basis of the above results, the exponential ergodicity is obtained under the Foster–Lyapunov drift conditions. Some examples are provided for illustration.     

Quasi-invariance properties of a class of subordinators

We study absolute-continuity relationships for a class of stochastic processes, including the gamma and the Dirichlet processes. We prove that the laws of a general class of non-linear transformations of such processes are locally equivalent to the law of the original process and we compute explicitly the associated Radon–Nikodym densities. This work unifies and generalizes to random non-linear transformations several previous quasi-invariance results for gamma and Dirichlet processes.     

Graded Cohen–Macaulay rings of wild Cohen–Macaulay type

We give sufficient conditions for a standard graded Cohen–Macaulay?ring, or equivalently, an arithmetically Cohen–Macaulay?projective variety, to be Cohen–Macaulay?wild in the sense of representation theory. In particular, these conditions are applied to hypersurfaces and complete intersections.     

White noise driven SPDEs with reflection: Existence,uniqueness and large deviation principles

In the first part of this paper, we prove the uniqueness of the solutions of SPDEs with reflection, which was left open in the paper [C. Donati-Martin, E. Pardoux, White noise driven SPDEs with reflection, Probab. Theory Related Fields 95 (1993) 1–24]. We also obtain the existence of the solution for more general coefficients depending on the past with a much shorter proof. In the second part of the paper, we establish a large deviation principle for SPDEs with reflection. The weak convergence approach is proven to be very efficient on this occasion.     

Almost sure and moment exponential stability of Euler–Maruyama discretizations for hybrid stochastic differential equations

Positive results are derived concerning the long time dynamics of numerical simulations of stochastic differential equation systems with Markovian switching. Euler–Maruyama discretizations are shown to capture almost sure and moment exponential stability for all sufficiently small timesteps under appropriate conditions.     

Bounds for Asian basket options

In this paper we propose pricing bounds for European-style discrete arithmetic Asian basket options in a Black and Scholes framework. We start from methods used for basket options and Asian options. First, we use the general approach for deriving upper and lower bounds for stop-loss premia of sums of non-independent random variables as in Kaas et al. [Upper and lower bounds for sums of random variables, Insurance Math. Econom. 27 (2000) 151–168] or Dhaene et al. [The concept of comonotonicity in actuarial science and finance: theory, Insurance Math. Econom. 31(1) (2002) 3–33]. We generalize the methods in Deelstra et al. [Pricing of arithmetic basket options by conditioning, Insurance Math. Econom. 34 (2004) 55–57] and Vanmaele et al. [Bounds for the price of discrete sampled arithmetic Asian options, J. Comput. Appl. Math. 185(1) (2006) 51–90]. Afterwards we show how to derive an analytical closed-form expression for a lower bound in the non-comonotonic case. Finally, we derive upper bounds for Asian basket options by applying techniques as in Thompson [Fast narrow bounds on the value of Asian options, Working Paper, University of Cambridge, 1999] and Lord [Partially exact and bounded approximations for arithmetic Asian options, J. Comput. Finance 10 (2) (2006) 1–52]. Numerical results are included and on the basis of our numerical tests, we explain which method we recommend depending on moneyness and time-to-maturity.     

Poisson point processes,excursions and stable processes in two-dimensional structures

Itô’s contributions lie at the root of stochastic calculus and of the theory of excursions. These ideas are also very useful in the study of conformally invariant two-dimensional structures, via conformal loop ensembles, excursions of Schramm–Loewner evolutions and Poisson point processes of Brownian loops.     

Reflected BSDEs with nonpositive jumps,and controller-and-stopper games

We study a class of reflected backward stochastic differential equations with nonpositive jumps and upper barrier. Existence and uniqueness of a minimal solution are proved by a double penalization approach under regularity assumptions on the obstacle. In a suitable regime switching diffusion framework, we show the connection between our class of BSDEs and fully nonlinear variational inequalities. Our BSDE representation provides in particular a Feynman–Kac type formula for PDEs associated to general zero-sum stochastic differential controller-and-stopper games, where control affects both drift and diffusion term, and the diffusion coefficient can be degenerate. Moreover, we state a dual game formula of this BSDE minimal solution involving equivalent change of probability measures, and discount processes. This gives in particular a new representation for zero-sum stochastic differential controller-and-stopper games.     

Supermartingale decomposition with a general index set

We prove results on the existence of Doléans-Dade measures and of the Doob–Meyer decomposition for supermartingales indexed by a general index set.     

KKT conditions for weak compact convex sets,theorems of the alternative,and optimality conditions

We present several equivalent conditions for the Karush–Kuhn–Tucker conditions for weak^? compact convex sets. Using them, we extend several existing theorems of the alternative in terms of weak^? compact convex sets. Such extensions allow us to express the KKT conditions and hence necessary optimality conditions for more general nonsmooth optimization problems with inequality and equality constraints. Furthermore, several new equivalent optimality conditions for optimization problems with inequality constraints are obtained.     

Stochastic equations of super-Lévy processes with general branching mechanism

In this work, the process of distribution functions of a one-dimensional super-Lévy process with general branching mechanism is characterized as the pathwise unique solution of a stochastic integral equation driven by time–space Gaussian white noises and Poisson random measures. This generalizes the recent work of Xiong (2013), where the result for a super-Brownian motion with binary branching mechanism was obtained.